The FBI has arrested a Saudi national studying in Texas for allegedly plotting to use a weapon of mass destruction and for possibly targeting former President George W. Bush, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a 20-year-old college student in Lubbock, was arrested Wednesday by FBI agents. He’s accused of amassing chemicals and materials to make an improvised explosive device. He may have been targeting the Dallas home of the former president, the department said, and had also researched nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams.

One e-mail message that Aldawsari allegedly sent to himself earlier this month, with the subject line “Tyrant’s House,” included Bush’s Dallas address.

The affidavit also alleges that Aldawsari conducted research that could indicate his consideration of the use of infant dolls to conceal explosives and possible targeting of a nightclub with an explosive concealed in a backpack.

The FBI received a report from a chemical supplier on Feb. 1 that Aldawsari had tried to buy concentrated phenol. The order was sent to a freight company, the Justice Department said, but was returned to the supplier, which then contacted Aldawsari. The Saudi-born man, who has been in the United States on a student visa since 2008, said he was doing “off-campus, personal research.” He is enrolled at South Plains College near Lubbock.

In a released excerpt of what is alleged to be his diary, Aldawsari indicated he had been planning an attack for years and got a scholarship so he could enter the United States to carry out jihad. “[N]ow, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad,” he allegedly wrote.

Aldawsari is expected to appear in federal court in Lubbock on Friday. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.